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A tale of two citiesBoulder and Springfield were once the size of Columbia. Here’s how they stack up today

BY VOXSTAFFOCTOBER 30, 2015 3:21 PM

Like many cities with flagship universities — Madison, Wisconsin;Columbus, Ohio; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Athens, Georgia, to name a few —Columbia is experiencing constant growth and must decide how to handle it.To better understand the coming changes, we looked at how Boulder,Colorado, and Springfield, Missouri, which were both once the size ofColumbia, to see how they addressed problems inherent with increasingpopulations.

HOME > COLUMBIA DEVELOPMENT > A TALE OF TWO CITIES

Boulder, Colorado

By Ben Landis

The population of Boulder, Colorado, has risen slowly and steadily year afteryear, and that’s just how the residents like it. From the 1950s to the 1970s,Boulder experienced exponential growth, which brought large corporationsand technology companies and jobs to the city. The businesses wereattracted to Boulder’s educated population; the city is home to theUniversity of Colorado. Dramatically affected by the seemingly out-of-control growth, residents and city leaders decided to control the expansionwith an increase in taxes that would make it harder for property to bedeveloped.

The goal of the 1967 tax program, which reflected residents’environmentalist concerns, and was to slow urban sprawl. The GreenbeltAmendment, or Open Space program of 1967, raised taxes 1 cent, and withthe money, the city bought land to keep it out of developers’ hands.

“We are historically and remain a slow-growth community,” says DavidDriskell, Boulder’s executive director for planning, housing andsustainability. “We have a policy that we don’t want to grow more than onepercent per year.” Driskell, who has held his current position for six years,says the city has continually met the goal of controlling the population since1995. Boulder doesn’t directly limit the number of residents, but it doesstrictly regulate land use. Residential growth is limited to one percent a yearwith some exception including affordable housing. Boulder remainslandlocked by choice and legislation, according to Driskell. However, as thecity contains growth, Boulder County, home to four cities and seven towns, isexpanding.

To put into perspective how densely populated Boulder is, consider thatColumbia, at 63.08 square miles with a population of 116,906, is two and ahalf times larger than Boulder, which is 25.8 square miles and has apopulation of 105,112. And Columbia is still growing. According to theannexation map from the city’s website, Columbia acquired two more plotsof land in 2014, located in the south and east.

Similar to Boulder, Columbia has repurposed some of its buildings to betteraccommodate the city’s needs. Boulder has sold some of its older industrialbuildings to private sector corporations for repurposing. Historical buildingshave been revitalized and many construction projects have produced a moreappealing downtown for some residents. In Columbia, developments like theshiny, luxury apartment complexes of District Flats and the Lofts ofColumbia, which target students and young professionals, have beenvehemently debated. Due to the limited amount of available space indowntown, developers are building up. Both buildings are approximately sixstories high. Some residents worry that building this way will alter thevantage point of Jesse Hall as the beacon of downtown. Both cities haveheight restriction on buildings; Columbia’s is 120 feet or 10 stories high,while Boulder’s is limited to 55 feet or approximately five stories. Academicinstitutions in Boulder are exempt.

Boulder’s long-standing policies have caused property values to rise whilelimiting affordable housing. Driskell says the biggest challenge the city facesis developing and preserving affordability for housing. The median price fora house was $489,400 in 2014, but the median income was $89,500. The largediscrepancy between income and home values causes a significant problemwhen it comes to accommodating what Driskell characterized as those in themiddle class income bracket. “Our focus is on places in the city that areunderutilized, where we can create mixed use and multifamily housing as

well as townhomes and small-lot, single-family homes,” Driskell says.

Much of the land Boulder acquired cannot be developed or built upon.Driskell says outside developers often team up with a local developers toease the approval process elsewhere. Up to 40 percent of private real estatedeals are conducted in cash, Driskell says. This indicates developers areusually well-established financially prior to acquiring the land. Even whenthey finish the deal, the purchasers still have to adhere to the multiplicity ofregulations.

Boulder citizens are as active and invested in how the city plans to handlefuture development as they were 40 years ago, Driskell says. Residents havepushed for and in some cases started initiatives such as “Development ShallPay Its Own Way” and “Neighborhood’s Right to Vote,” which aims to givethem a stronger voice in how the city redefines land up for repurposing. TheDevelopment Shall Pay Its Own Way initiative is connected to the Right toVote Plan and wants developers to “fully pay for or otherwise provide all theadditional facilities and services required to fully offset the burdens thatotherwise would have been imposed by such new development on cityfacilities and services,” according to the shared initiative website. With thehighly engaged community, it’s hard to facilitate the development reviewprocess, Driskell says.

In Columbia, many business owners say the new apartments are beneficial totheir businesses. But the developments downtown and large areas of landbeing turned into subdivisions have caused some residents to take polarizedstances on the issue. Concern about urban sprawl, storm water runoffs andhow an inadequate sewer system will handle more apartments contributes tothat polarization. Over the years, Columbia has continued expansion inorder to compensate for a growing population, but Boulder chose a decidedlydifferent option.

Springfield, Missouri

By David Soler Crespo

Springfield, the third largest city in Missouri behind Kansas City and St.Louis, has experienced strong growth during the past few decades. Columbiais following the same trend. In Columbia and Springfield, education andhealthcare are the primary industries that helped drive that growth. InSpringfield, 37,000 people — 16 percent of the total city workforce — wereemployed in those fields in 2013. Columbia’s five major employers, also inhealthcare or education, accounted for 20 percent of the workforce the sameyear.

Springfield is home to Missouri State University, which has a recordenrollment of 24,735 students for the 2015–2016 school year. That numberrepresents an increase of 70 percent in 20 years. Bob Hosmer, principalplanner for Springfield’s Development and Review Department, says thecity’s growth has mirrored that of Missouri State. Similarly, Columbia’sgrowth follows MU’s, which has a record estimated 35,000 students this fall.

Hosmer says it’s important for cities to compare themselves to and learnfrom other places that have experienced similar growth. For Springfield, thatmeans analyzing cities such as Salt Lake City, Utah; Knoxville, Tennessee;Savannah, Georgia and Huntsville, Alabama. Springfield compares itself on avariety of factors, including household income and job growth. AlthoughColumbia doesn’t have an official program, Mayor Bob McDavid says helooks at similar college cities to better understand how they deal withexpansion.

The primary issues Springfield faces, which slowed its growth by half since2000, are limited available land for expansion and a faulty city plan, Hosmersays. Springfield hopes to acquire 30 percent more land by 2020 because thecity has exhausted all the land it has, he adds. Hosmer blames Missouri’sharsh annexation laws for not allowing the major expansion stated in itsVision 20/20 development plan. “(The plan) was not as detailed as weneeded,” he says. As a result, Springfield does not have a clear line of actionfor some problems, such as protecting neighborhoods while encouraging theexpansion of commercial areas.

Because of this, the city’s Growth Management and Land Use ComprehensivePlan is now focused on sustainable development in already urbanized areas.In other words, reduce sprawl occurring outside the city, and work onimproving what already exists. Although the city encourages taller buildingsdowntown, Hosmer says officials won’t ignore the possibility of growing inthe periphery.

Columbia follows a similar trend. The 2013 Columbia Imagined Planmentions limiting growth beyond the established areas and supportingvalue-added growth to urban areas.

Although both cities would like to see taller structures, this hasn’t occurredyet. Hosmer says the practice is not profitable for Springfield developersbecause inexpensive land is still available on the edges of the city. He hopesto see an updated development plan that involves the entire community.

As they eye the future, both cities look to sustainable growth and increasedpopulation density to help solve problems. Yet, how those plans will play outover the next few decades is anyone’s guess.

Local Perspective: Rachel Bacon, city plannerBy Jillian Deutsch

You’d think it was the street view that got someone interested in cityplanning, but for Rachel Bacon, a Columbia city planner and liaison toColumbia Historic Preservation Commission, her interest began in the sky.Seeing the city grids from the window of an airplane got her thinking abouthow someone can “shape the world you live in.”

Now Bacon engages directly with many of the difficult decisions about howand where Columbia will grow. But, she says, we’re in a good position.

“So many towns would kill to have what we have,” Bacon says. “We have avibrant downtown, a mix of people, a place that people want to come to.”

She understands the importance of walkability and of accessing the outdoorsthroughout the city with bike paths and green space.

Bacon is also excited about the possibility of mixed-use developments thatprovide a variety of housing alongside businesses, including restaurants,offices and shops. These developments would have a similar feel, all thewhile providing an array of activities for residents on foot.

But she doesn’t want Columbia to get too shiny. There needs to be a certaingritty factor, she says. She used the example of Manhattan in the 1990s,when people felt like things were too polished and the city was losing itscharacter.

“It’s hard to put your finger on character,” she says. “That unique cornice,

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that one brick that’s not quite the right color, and you wonder what the storywas.”

Bacon still wants to see interesting people and be surprised when she walksaround the corner.

As she puts it, “I don’t want us to be too perfect.”

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